With a challenger hot on her heels, Michelle Wu will be walking into a political minefield if she agrees to testify before a Republican congressional committee investigating sanctuary cities.
But she should go anyway.
Show the courage of your convictions, mayor, and defend your position. Make your case for sanctuary cities. Don’t just take pot shots at Republicans and Fox News from the safe spaces of maternity leave and City Hall and public radio.
If Wu declines to go, it will make her appear afraid and weak.
If she does appear only before the threat of a subpoena, it will make it seem as if she’s being dragged in.
Wu is one of four mayors called to defend their cities’ laws welcoming illegal migrants – and she is already questioning the motives of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The first-term Boston mayor, up for reelection this year, has not said whether she’ll honor the committee’s request to testify, but she’ll probably try to avoid the showdown.
Asked if she would comply with a subpoena, Wu declined to respond. The mayor – facing opponent Josh Kraft in her reelection race – is not comfortable in hostile settings and is more at ease handling friendly questions from public radio hosts.
She would be taking flak if she avoids the committee but that could be a better alternative to her political advisers than being held up for national ridicule by Republicans in Congress.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Tenn., chair of the GOP-controlled committee, is leading an investigation into “sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States and their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws.”
Comer requested “documents and information related to the sanctuary policies of” all four cities and invited each mayor to testify at a public hearing on the matter before the committee on Feb. 11, at 10 a.m.
Wu was targeted because Boston is one of a handful of large cities to have sanctuary laws protecting illegal migrants, and she is one of the country’s leading progressive voices.
She is now resorting to typical lefty talking points to defend the city’s laws, criticizing Republicans for playing games and the Trump administration for allowing Fox News and “celebrities” like Dr. Phil to tag along on federal illegal immigrant raids.
“They are now including Fox News being embedded…on these actions,” she said, “or bringing other celebrities to document what’s happening to create a sense of greater impact with that fear and destabilization.”
Wu, one of the least transparent mayors in Boston history, has an abysmal record when it comes to public records requests. So no doubt she’ll stick with her plan and avoid this one, too.
But it will show courage if she decides to go and confront her accusers head on. She might even generate sympathy for being a working mother who’s not too busy to travel to Washington to testify before Congress.
Avoiding the spectacle in Washington also could leave an opening for her opponent, Josh Kraft, to criticize Wu for not being responsive to Congress.
Kraft, son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is due to officially announce his campaign within days. It could be nice timing for him to weigh in on the congressional dispute involving Wu and the city’s sanctuary city laws.
